Blown Up
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: A lot has changed over the years in Horatio's team. Some have come. Some have gone. The cases, however, haven't gotten any easier... maybe just on the contrary. -REWRITTEN!
1. The Team

**Lieutenant**

Horatio C.

Calleigh D.

* * *

**Trace**

Eric D.

Ryan W.

Becki W.

Meghan L.

* * *

**DNA**

Natalia B.

Maxine V.

Caroline K.

* * *

**Firearms**

Calleigh C.

Lis H.

* * *

**A/V**

Anette R.

Emma T.

* * *

**Cryptography**

Andreiinna F.

Tarrah F.

* * *

**M.E.**

Janeau L.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I slowly reached out to take my name from the grey, rectangular board in the dark entrance hall and held the cold, metallic little nameplate in my hand, as fingertips gently stroked over the thinly etched letters. I smiled, and laid my right hand on my expanded abdomen, looking down to see that round bump in which our baby was happily growing.

Lieutenants Caine and Duquesne had already degraded me to paper work since I had started to show, prohibiting me of doing any field work, and now I was sent on obligatory maternity leave at thirty-five weeks. Of course I had protested, but I knew Calleigh could make it without me in Firearms.

I turned around with my nameplate in hand and walked over to the elevator, which would take me down. Except for Horatio, who was probably still finishing up some paper work himself in that office of his, I was the last one of day shift leaving.

I stepped out of the elevator and walked over to my vehicle self-confidently, as I realized just how much had changed since the first time I had walked in there.

Calleigh Duquesne had just been promoted to co-Lieutenant and MDPD had been requiring a replacement for her. According to our colleagues, the name meant nothing but good, so Calleigh Crocker and I had been hired both to make the work lighter.

Both Calleighs and I could get along amazingly well – actually from the first moment. That was probably a quite predictable thing, with ballistic experts under each other. Calleigh Duquesne would surely be staying the one and only Bullet Girl, though.

Dr. Tara Price gave up her job about a month later, because of unknown reasons. 'Private matters', that's what we had been told about it at least. She was eventually replaced by Janeau, a very kind African American girl who could get along well with almost everyone in the crime lab. It had most definitely taken some time to find a good M.E.

Around the same time as she had joined the team, the twins Andreiinna and Tarrah had been hired for Cryptography. Andreiinna, or Ina, like we usually preferred to call her since her full name was such a long thing to pronounce, became our graphic specialist as well. She could effectively draw like no one else could, which would turn out to come in handy at some point.

Cooper's job was definitely taken by Emma and Anette at the end of the year as well.

And then of course you had Becki and Meghan, two friends who had ended up in Trace together with the start of the new year. Actually, there had been a lack of Trace-experts all along. Suddenly, everything was done twice as fast with the two new employees.

Our newest asset was Caroline. She had been working in DNA for five weeks now and appeared to be even smarter as she looked like soon enough. She was the youngest of the team, and Becki and Meghan always liked to tease her a little about it, but actually… The three of them were just inseparable. Curious how fast real friendship can originate. And especially… how easily.

The girls were all three about my age, and during lunch break, we often went for something to eat in town together. Becki once exclaimed us to be the 'Crazy Crew', since the four of us were the youngest amongst the team members, and well… We all liked to be crazy sometime.

There would be a new Homicide Detective starting at the beginning of next week, too. Heather Marci. She had come over from Ralleigh and was said to be a handful. Everyone at the lab was curious to work with her, though, because all we knew until now was the fact she would be replacing Frank, who had retired from the force after thirty years. We could only be guessing about the rest.

* * *

At home, I crept up into the double bed next to my husband, who was already asleep, yet awake enough to take me into his strong arms and hold my pregnant figure close against him. Koen had actually been the first man I ever trusted, and I was very sure I would never regret doing just that.

He was about nine years older than me, and he would probably never love me as much as his first spouse, but that didn't mean he didn't love me. I knew he did.

"Love you," Koen let out, right before sleep took over again, leaving him with a soft smile on his lips.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, a little past four in the morning to be exactly, me and my husband were woken by the sound of my cell phone beeping. I immediately opened my greenish eyes wide and gave them a little time to adjust to the darkness in the bedroom, as I grabbled for my mobile, still pretty drunk with sleep. "Hayes?"

"Lis," sounded a quite familiar voice with southern accent. "I'm sorry to wake you."

"It's OK," I lied, pushing myself upright into the bed with the help of my other hand. Koen did exactly the same and listened along to the conversation attentively. I glanced at him briefly before removing the cell from my ear to put it on speaker.

"Horatio just got a phone call from Nevada. A couple of felons escaped from state prison last night. And early this morning, there's been an explosion at the crime scene there, right when the forensic team arrived. We're not sure those prisoners are behind it, but there's a good chance to it."

I nodded. "Two of our Nevada colleagues haven't survived the explosion, and the ones who weren't present at the crime scene or made it through, like Catherine, need our help urgently. Horatio and I are leaving for Nevada with part of the team tomorrow morning, on the first flight. Someone has to lead the lab until we're back, though. And I know you're on maternity leave, and that we've forced you to ourselves, but we're hoping to get back by Thursday."

'And today's Monday,' I thought. "No problem. Who's going along?" I asked, and waited patiently for an answer on the other side of the receiver.

"Uhm… Me, and Horatio, for starters. And Eric, Ryan, and Natalia, probably. And Valera, maybe. We'll do our best to get back as soon as possible, I promise. Until then, we're counting on you."

"OK," I repeated. "And… Cal?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful, please."

"We will."

"Good, because I really don't want anything happening to our baby's godmother," I whispered, running one hand over my protruding belly. "Or the rest of our team."

* * *

I gently placed my cell phone back on its regular spot on the nightstand on my side and lay back into the bed staring at the ceiling, which was being faintly illuminated by the shine of the moon coming through the soft green curtains and spreading around the bedroom. 5:13AM.

Actually, Calleigh Duquesne was co-Lieutenant, but in fact she was still working in Firearms most of the time. Calleigh Crocker would be forced to tackle the huge amount of ballistics alone with both me and the other Calleigh having other stuff to do in the next couple of days. Maybe I could step in every now and then and help a little anyways. Until Horatio, Calleigh, and the rest of the team going along were back from Nevada at least.

A soft kiss on my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts.

I smiled, but refused to look at my husband. "What was that about?" he asked, not having understood anything from the conversation he had just heard. "Nothing," I replied, while I rolled my dark blond head over to the side and kissed his lips ever so gently. "Why you little bastard."

"Why?" Koen asked with too obvious fake innocence, while wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Because… You know that if you do just that this early in the morning, I get totally in the right mood," I purred, kissing his lips again. "You're making me horny. Little bastard."

"And yet you love me…"

"Oh, and who says so? Huh?" I teased, pushing him backwards into the bed with everything I had, and crawled onto him.

"Because… You wouldn't be doing this if you didn't even a little," he simply answered me, as I slid my left hand between our bodies.

"This?" I asked, shifting slightly, and forcing him into me.

"Oh I love you…"

"I know."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"How's the situation there?" I asked, smiling briefly at the guards opening the door to the lab for me. ("Good morning, Ms. Hayes.")

"Pretty alarming. I'm sure there has to be a way to find out where those felons are, but…" a soft southern voice sounded on the other side of the receiver. "Now where would you be hiding if you escaped from– **BANG!**"

I stopped in my tracks down the hallway and stared at my mobile phone in shock. "Calleigh?" She couldn't hear me anymore, because the line had gone dead right after the explosion. This couldn't be happening.

Becki came out of Trace and joined me in the hallway. "What's wrong?" she asked, deep concern accompanying her words, reading the shocked expression lying on my face. "I'm sorry," I let out, excusing myself to her, and dialing the last called number. I held the phone to my ear again and heard it going straight to voice mail. I didn't fail to notice Meghan and Becki trading a very worried glance.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, before snapping my phone shut, turning around to walk past Meghan standing in the doorway of Trace on my way to the other side of the lab, to A/V. On my way there, I briefly noticed the giant clock hanging in the break room through the glass panels, indicating two minutes past the start of day shift.

Anette usually went to pick up Emma on her way to the lab, I knew. And the two of them were mostly only right on time or late. They couldn't be late today…

I decided to try and call Horatio's number. Voice mail. Something was wrong. Something had gone seriously wrong there; I could feel it burning in the pit of my stomach. My gut said so.

It took me about four more minutes to reach my destination.

"Anette!" I yelled, bursting into the A/V lab to find only Emma looking at me with her eyes wide. "What's going on?" she asked.

My left hand reached up to the side of my head. I suddenly realized I was having a huge head-ache. I sat down on the table without responding Emma and tried Eric's number, although deep inside I already knew he wouldn't pick up either. I tried to call Horatio's number again. Without luck, still. Neither of them appeared to be able to pick up their cell phone.

"Lis, what the–" Anette started, appearing into the doorway. "Something's happened!" I exclaimed, spinning around on my heels with my hands up in the air in pure devastation, my cell still tightly clutched in my left fist.

"You have to find out exactly where Calleigh and the others were during the explosion," I said, throwing the cell on Emma's work table. "Do whatever you need to–" "What explosion?" Caroline's voice suddenly sounded, as she popped up behind Anette. I averted my gaze to see her looking at me in shock and the case file she was holding trembling between her hands.

I squeezed my light greenish eyes shut and let out a shaky breath.

"Uhm, Lis, we can't–" Emma started. "We've got all this… shit, and yet you can't even figure out…" I let out, the rest of my words trailing off in thin air. "I'm sorry, Emma."

I guess I just didn't want to hear any of it right now, although I knew that she was so right… Maybe I already lost it from that moment.

"Calm down," Anette said, as she noticed me breathing way too heavily. "This is not good for you and the baby right now, Lis." She turned to the young DNA analyst. "Caroline, would you mind taking her to her office and try your best to keep her calm and stay with her?"

* * *

"Shouldn't you be going home?" I asked, looking up at Calleigh, who just shook her head at me in denial, her bright pink hair flying about. "Oh no… I'm staying as long as you are. I'm not leaving you in this state."

"I'm not going home anyways, Cal."

"I know," she sighed. "And it probably wouldn't make any difference if I told you Koen is probably very worried about you?"

"I know, but he understands the situation."

She nodded, as she took a look at the television, picked up the remote from my desk before sitting down on it and switching the TV on. She started zapping between the TV channels to find something interesting, as my eyes suddenly caught something particular in the one second I looked at the screen myself. "Can you switch back?"

"Why?" Calleigh asked, shifting on her seat to stare at me with a frown creased between her perfectly epilated eyebrows.

"Switch back."

"Alright…"

"Wait, that's it!"

_*… still unknown how many victims the explosion counts.*_

Calleigh's brown eyes met mine for a brief second, then trailed back to the television screen to see the footage of the exploded crime lab in Nevada.

"That's… That's Calleigh," I let out, pointing at the screen and getting up from behind my desk. That girl had unmistakably been Calleigh Duquesne. My lower lip dangerously quivered. I didn't fail to notice tears running down the other Calleigh's eyes, right as my cell phone started beeping. "Oh no…"

I traded a brief glance with my friend, before turning around and waiting another couple of seconds to pick up. "H- Hayes?"

"Lis?" an all too familiar low rumble sounded.

…

"You hang in there," were my last words before I snapped the phone shut, a few minutes after I had picked it up from my temporary desk. In contrary to Horatio, who I had never heard sounding so insecure before, I had never felt so secure about anything. Except for maybe the day I said 'I do' to Koen and the moment the two of us had decided to let nature have her way concerning our first child.

"I'm going to Nevada," I said, looking up at pink haired Calleigh self-confidently.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Lis, could I talk to you for a second?" an unpleasantly familiar voice popped up behind me. I couldn't help but roll my light greenish eyes and turned around to see IAB Sergeant Rick Stetler looking at me. He was just a little less taller than me and had to raise that chin of his and look up. Something I knew Rick hated, and that's exactly the reason why I just thought this was pretty funny. Even considering the horrible circumstances I had to keep myself from laughing out loud.

Yet I said with the most stern voice I had, and especially kept for people I didn't like, "It's Lietenant Hayes for you for the time being... Rick." I had actually never had a personal collision with the IAB Sergeant, but I had heard some things about him and... I just didn't like Rick for starters. Hypocrisy was too readable from his face.

"I would be assuming that's a yes?"

I didn't reply, just gazed at him blankly for a minute, before simply turning around to Anette again. "Take care of it," I said, getting a brief nod, before she ran down the hallway and disappeared into the A/V lab, which she currently shared with Emma.

I turned back to Stetler with a sigh, my right hand going to my aching lower back in the process, as it often started to hurt when I had to stand up straight for a very long time. And I had already been awake for hours, running around on my painfully swollen feet. I hadn't effectively slept since Monday.

Early morning, right after Horatio's call, I had eventually decided to go home for a little while, together with Calleigh, and maybe snuggle up against my sweet husband and the father of my unborn child to get some sleep nevertheless. Only three hours later, though, I had already stood into the lab again, freshly showered and dressed up properly in another set of maternity clothes, having grabbed something to eat on my way down. "Make it short, there actually are people with a real job here, and I've got a whole crime lab to run."

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you to be honest."

"Oh My..." I breathed, not being able to suppress my sarcastic inclinations towards him.

"I heard you're planning to go to Nevada."

"And?" I exhaled, whilst wondering how he had gotten to know about this so soon, since it had been only a good hour since the crisis gathering I had set up concerning Nevada.

"You already forgot about what happened there yesterday?" Rick more said than asked, yet raising his hairy eyebrows questionably.

"You listen to me, you... piece of an IAB agent. What happened yesterday has been on every single news channel. My colleagues and friends were involved in there, and only two of them survived, of whom one is still critical, fighting for her life, and we don't even have the slightest idea if she'll survive." At that particular moment, I started to lose the little remaining patience I still had, and yelled. "How could I... possibly forget? These..." I swallowed, not wanting to say what I initially planned. "... felons," I concluded, stressing that one word, "... are still on the loose, and I'll get them, even if that is the last thing I'll ever do– Even if that is the last thing we'll do," I corrected, and allowed my other hand to reach out for my expanded abdomen, as I softly groaned.

"I believe that's just the problem... Lieutenant Hayes," Rick said, nodding towards the hand lying on my lower abdomen, supporting my still growing child. "You're pregnant. And part of your team was already blown up by–" "No really?" I spat, breathing heavily, "We'll take all possible precautions. Thank you," I went on, as this all too sarcastic smile grew on my lips.

A silence fell between the two of us, but Rick was the one to break it. "What does your husband think about your plans?"

"He doesn't know yet... But, you're gonna leave him outta it!" I let out between gritted teeth, before the real explosion came. "Don't act like you even care!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, impatience and exhaustion taking over at this point. It felt good, though. No one present in the crime lab could suppress the curiosity of looking up, as I was trying to express my feelings there.

My greenish eyes wandered back over to him. "And don't you even think I'm apologizing for that, 'cause you just simply got what's coming to you!" I roared. "You were asking for it... And now get as the thunder outta my lab!"

He didn't say anything. Rick was probably used to being yelled at. Yet, he slowly turned around and left.

Ina's soft voice sounded next to me. "You alright?"

"I- AAH!" came my answer to her right worried question, before I disappeared down the hallway into the direction of the A/V lab to see if Anette had already taken care of what I had asked her to, while I wondered about the question who would be leading the crime lab until I was back...

Rule number two: never mess with Lis Hayes, Rick.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Horatio?" I gently laid my left hand on his non-injured right shoulder, as my glance slowly trailed off towards the bed and the southern belle lying in there. He ignored my hand lying on his shoulder. I swallowed, and unconsciously looked down at my expanded abdomen. My other hand reached out to support it, as I looked up again to see the old man holding her frail hand into his larger one from the corners of my eyes.

"She only seems to be sleeping," he faintly let out, without averting his gaze, as if doing just that would make her disappear, pulling her away from him down in another world. I couldn't deny it. She did only seem to be sleeping.

She and Horatio had been the only survivors of our team. He and Grissom had only just arrived back at the lab when it exploded. The two men had been farthest from the explosion, and had both made it through, although neither of them entirely unharmed.

The others hadn't even had a chance.

Calleigh did only seem to be sleeping, and it felt intensely awkward to be aware of the fact she would never wake up anymore. She wouldn't.

Horatio still didn't shown any sign of having noticed me as I pulled back my warm hand to pull by a too clinical chair and slowly sit down next to him in silence. "I'm going to kill whoever did that," Horatio whispered, and the way in which he said it was so amazingly calm it made chills run down my spine. At that particular moment, I was afraid of him. Yet I carefully laid my hand upon his lower arm and squeezed it briefly.

"I'll save you a piece," I assured him, and stared at Calleigh's expressionless face. Her emerald eyes were closed, and the complexion lying upon her was just a little too pale to really compete with the white sheets. She could have been sleeping, but Horatio's kiss wouldn't wake her up anymore, although she still looked so much like a princess out of a children's fairytale, with her shining golden locks surrounding her, perfectly sprawled out on the pillow.

I stood up, allowing my warm hand to slide off his arm, and I briefly glanced up at Calleigh again. The two of them had been able to communicate without words like no one else at the lab could, like… And now all of that would be gone. It would be so awkward, not seeing that too cheerful smile anymore. Ever.

I turned around to leave, as Horatio's velvety voice stopped me from doing so. "Don't let the same thing happening to that little feller," he said, pointing at my protruding pregnant belly.

"I won't," I promised, actually more to myself than Horatio, as the other hand joined its partner and I slowly started to rub my belly with both hands, as if trying to protect the child growing in there doing only that. And I wished I could.

* * *

"You're too calm," Meghan announced, frowning, a few minutes after I had joined her and Tarrah in the hallway of the hospital, where I had just sat down without saying anything. "I'm fine," I lied, gratefully taking the mug of coffee Heather handed me. "Thank you." I softly blew into the black liquid before taking a careful sip. "I'm fine, but I'll only rest if I've fired a couple of .23s, preferably through the heads of these bastards who…" I growled, my right hand unconsciously going to my department weapon.

I'm almost sure this warning spark of anger flared up in my bluish green eyes again, because Tarrah suddenly shied away from me.

"I'm sure you know we aren't going to let that happen and have them get away with this," Meghan replied calmly. "What are we going to do?"

"Catch them son-of-a-bitches who did this."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was surrounded by ashes and the remains of what had once been a decent crime lab. A right hand slowly reached out to take my black sunglasses off and I swallowed at the sight of destruction in front of me. Had this really been a… crime lab? Practically nothing was still left of it.

"Has this really been a… crime lab?" Heather wondered, pronouncing exactly what I thought.

Even before I had been given the chance to reply on the detective's question lazily hanging in the cool Nevada air, someone else did so in my place. A formal baritone sounded from behind us and made us turn around to its owner. "I'm afraid so," he spoke.

His piercing blue eyes had something of kindness and seriousness at the same time, and maybe something threatening too. "Gil Grissom," he briefly introduced himself to us. "I assume you're from Horatio's team?" he asked, nodding towards me and the threesome accompanying me. His question would turn out to have been rhetorical, because Grissom didn't wait for any of us to answer. "I heard about your ballistics expert," he continued, seemingly not minding about starting about a very sensitive and emotional subject. Calleigh had died only a couple of hours back. "I'm sorry."

At that particular moment, I doubted if he actually meant a single word of what he was saying there, but then again Grissom had nearly lost all of his team members at once himself. No survivors amongst them.

"Thank you," I spoke.

"At this moment, every single piece of evidence is being collected by the day shift members. The crime scene has been released for the forensic teams only very early this morning, because of serious collapse danger. Although there isn't all too much left to collapse in my opinion," Grissom sighed.

I nodded. "Then I suggest all collected evidence will be transferred to our crime lab in Miami. I'm sure my," I paused, as it still sounded very awkward to look at and refer to the colleagues I had worked with for the last couple of years as my team. "...team," I continued, "will be more than eager to do a little extra effort and catch these creeps."

Grissom nodded, in silence.

"What do you want us to do?" Tarrah asked, turning towards me and waiting patiently for an answer.

"Go try and help to collect all evidence," I said, receiving a brief nod of agreement before she and Meghan headed off towards the Hummer to retrieve their respective kits, put on a clean pair of gloves and go out into the field to do what I had told them to.

"What are you going to do?" Heather asked, frowning. I spun around on my too high heels and turned all of my attention towards her. "I'm going to help in a minute as well," I clarified, unconsciously nodding towards the H2 where my own kit was sitting in the trunk. "But, can you try and find something out for me in the meantime?"

* * *

I felt pretty confident about Heather coming up with some interesting facts soon enough. According the circumstances, it hadn't been possible to unravel anything more about the background of the escaped prisoners yet, although there would sure be enough to find in their records. And I first wanted to get an idea of whom we were dealing with.

My stare suddenly spotted something green glinting between the rubbish of the old Las Vegas crime lab. I carefully leaned forward as not to bump against anything with my big, round, pregnant belly to pick it up with a gloved hand. When I leaned back, I was tightly holding a little hairpin up between my thumb and middle finger. This had been Calleigh's, I realized, before sliding it into an empty brown evidence baggy and closing it, over-taping it with red evidence tape and writing down my initials. LH. Lis Hayes.

Although Koen and I had married each other at my third month of pregnancy, a good five months back, I still preferred to use my own last name in professional ways. Not that it opened up more for me still using it, since I had only been the first one in our family to effectively finish high school and university successfully.

I guess I just wanted to show that I could make it on my own too, although I couldn't imagine my future life without my sweet husband anymore. In contrary to my side of the family, Koen's had been successful all along. I didn't want to be seen as a whore sleeping with someone more respectful and decent for that matter to get higher up. I had done it without any help of anyone and I just wanted to show that. That I had honestly deserved my place there.

Meghan suddenly appeared behind me. "I found something," she announced, sounding awkward. I looked up at her interested and crawled upright with a little help of her to follow to a slightly larger pile of rubbish a few feet farther. She briefly pointed at a few tiny parts lying spread out. "You think this could be part of the bomb?"

"That could be quite possible," I admitted. "But, I'm not a professional on that area." I actually knew far more about bombs than I often wanted to admit, though.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Meghan sure had found something. And it would be confirmed by a phone call from Miami that night. Our forensic team, together with Las Vegas' day shift, had worked all day and night to get results as soon as possible. Between all collected evidence sent to Florida appeared to have been about sixty percent of the bomb.

In contradiction with my colleagues and the other teams we worked with, I found this rather useless. The exploded crime lab was surely considered being a crime scene and protocol said evidence had to be collected. And this would be done too, under the watchful blue eyes of Gil Grissom.

All necessary and possible precautions had been taken with the last happenings and I reran every single one of them in my head to come to the same conclusion over and over again in the end: that everything should effectively be alright with all precautions taken. Then I started thinking about Becki's last phone call again, cell phone still in hand as I lay down in bed, the other hand rubbing my expanded abdomen in thought. I often did that in these last months. It felt special to feel Koen's child moving around inside of me, sending light kicking towards my hand palm at that particular moment in time.

I suddenly tasted my own blood on my lips, and two fingers reached up to wipe it away. I had been biting down on my lower lip too hard again, which seemed to dawn upon me I did more often lately when I had to think some things through.

What could the rough composition of that bomb tell us? Only that it had been made by a professional. Nothing more. And we had to find out where these felons were hiding, as to get them down. And how could the bomb composition tell us anything more about their hiding place? I wasn't all too hopeful about it, what would be considered as strange for someone who called herself a CSI.

My bright green eyes trailed off towards the alarm clock sitting on the wooden nightstand. Only a little past three in the early Nevada morning. H. wouldn't be in a too best state right after Calleigh's death. I honestly wasn't really either, but if we actually wanted to get something out of the bomb fragments, we had to find an expert in that area and it would be dumb to find someone else if the best one was our own Horatio Caine. He was the very best explosives expert we knew with a good and fair amount of experience and I decided to call in on his help the next day. He would want nothing less but catch the bomber or maybe bombers, although our forensic experts were mainly focusing on one person. Whatever, it could wait until the morning.

I was just planning on carefully rolling on my side and trying to continue sleeping, as it was still very early, when I suddenly heard a door vaguely closing and male feet padding outside in the hallway. He possibly couldn't sleep either, I thought, and pushed the light covers aside to sit up and push myself upright with the help of both hands. Poor lower back, I thought, getting on my swollen feet. And poor feet. I didn't take the effort to slip on shoes, but left the bedroom in flannel pajama pants and an old Pré X-MOS T-shirt and followed my first thought, which happened to be right, as usual.

* * *

I found Horatio sitting around in the lounge downstairs, nursing a glass of whiskey.

"You loved her," I stated, getting him to look up at me. It didn't really sound like a question. And he didn't reply either. After just a short silence, during which I uneasily sat down on the stool next to him, I continued with somewhat more formal voice, "We found some bomb fragments at the… the scene," I concluded.

In contradiction to me again, Horatio seemed to find it interesting and required me to tell him our team's findings. "Explain."

There honestly wasn't all too much to explain, though. And Horatio even agreed with me that it wouldn't help us a thing. We had to find out their hiding place, not exactly how their bombs were made. Maybe Heather's findings could help out there, but I hadn't heard from her since that morning. Right then, my little cell phone started buzzing within my pants pocket. I carried it along everywhere, since I felt naked without the thing, which turned out to be handy at moments like these. It should have been around three-thirty, when Heather called me to update me with some interesting facts. Pretty interesting, considering the early hour.

It shouldn't have taken me longer than two seconds to get a hold of the thing and clasp it open to hear the detective's voice. Detective Marci seemed to have read my mind. "Lis, I came up with something in Antonio and Adam's records…"


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"I'm listening."

"Antonio and Adam actually appear to be brothers in law. Almost all evidence of Antonio's recent marriage to Adam's sister has strangely disappeared, but I still found some seemingly forgotten records."

"Recent?" I questioned, frowning. At this particular moment Horatio had shifted into his seat to listen along attentively.

"Yeah. Antonio and Monica Arandia got only married a month before his arrest."

"Awkward…" I stated.

"Yeah, that's what I initially thought as well, but it could be pure coincidence, too. We can't just go and follow what we're thinking. We have to make sure."

"You remind me of Calleigh," I sighed, smiling at the old thought of her and becoming sad right at the same time. "Now… That third felon, does he have any kind of connection with Antonio and Adam, or Monica?"

"Not that I'm aware of. And as far as I got to spit out, there's no mentioning of anyone of Raven's family still alive either."

"Why did the three of them get arrested?" I suddenly wondered, because the only thing I knew thus far was the fact all three had escaped from state prison and were pretty good with bombs and possibly had a fair background in Chemistry, or at least one of them. And Heather's recent information, of course…

"Antonio and Adam were both arrested for illegal drug transport in 2008; whereas Raven has been arrested only three months back for armed robbery in a near grocery store. Four got injured. Two killed."

"Does one of them have any experience with bombs?" I asked, and I could almost watch her nodding on the other end, and her immediate answer told me she had been expecting me asking this.

"Raven," Heather told me. "He has been working as a very conservative yet popular Chemistry teacher. I have been talking to some old students of his, who couldn't believe what recently happened."

"I'm wondering what brought him to doing what he did. How he got that frustrated to get himself a gun and… I just can't process it. From Chemistry teacher to armed grocery store robber…" I contemplated. "Could you try and find out where that great felon sister and wife lives?" I continued, impulsive thoughts vaguely forming in my head.

"I'll text it to you ASAP…" Heather answered, already figuring out my next plans.

"Thank you," I said before hanging up and turning back to Horatio to share what I had been thinking out while being updated on the felons' current situation.

Antonio and Adam get busted for illegal drug transport and dealing. Sure both of them want to get back to the ones putting them in jail and robbing them from their life and freedom, but have to figure out how to get out in the first place.

A couple of months after their arrest, Raven joins them in prison and indirectly offers them that possibility. The three of them get in touch with each other, and with a little help, the old Chemistry teacher directly finds a way to get them out of jail. Bombs.

The three prisoners manage to plan it all until the details and escape. Nowhere to go to. Or maybe… Where would you run off to? To someone you're sure wouldn't betray you, right?

Show time.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I slowly pulled my black department Glock up into position while following Horatio into the old rental house, ready to fire if necessary with my forefinger already close by the trigger. He just looked at me for a brief second, receiving a nod from me before kicking down the door and entering what appeared to be a little living room. Part of the SWAT team accompanying us followed Horatio and me further into what we assumed would be considered a kitchen, as I noticed a group of SWAT members all dressed in black go in Meghan and Grissom's wake up the stairs from the corners of my bluish green eyes and some others join Heather and Tarrah going in the other direction.

Both living room and kitchen showed some recent activity, according to some food rests standing on the kitchen counter, which hadn't even cooled down yet and to a cigarette still faintly lit in an empty can on the table. No one was still there, though, so H. and I decided to get up and try and help our colleagues out.

Upstairs, I almost immediately caught something… disturbed. "H.," I spoke, eyes glued on a grey steel ladder standing in the middle of the first floor hallway, most likely leading to the second floor or attic. H. turned around to take in the sight in front of us and look at me, receiving another silent nod, before climbing up and helping me do the same as soon as the redhead was sure everything was clear there. What I found was exactly what I would have expected to find. Or rather… who. Raven.

I slowly nodded to myself and decided to bring up my best Spanish. "Hola. Que–" but any more words travelled off spontaneously at hearing Horatio's low rumble.

"Lis." The quietness in the dark, hardly illuminated attic was only being disturbed by a soft ticking sounding somewhere in the background. I immediately realized what its source would be and looked up at Horatio, swallowing hard. "Lis. Get out of here." I spun around on my too high heels without thinking and glided down the old ladder again.

"All of you get out of here!" I yelled, running in a little collision with Grissom. "Where's Meghan?" I asked, not perceiving her anywhere visible anymore and remembering she had gone off with him.

"I–" "This thing's going to explode in just a few seconds, and you better find her before it actually does!"

* * *

Only a good minute later I was lying there crumpled up on my left side in the green grass, right next to Heather and Tarrah and a couple of SWAT members. As I leaned up, I noticed Meghan and Grissom a couple of feet farther through the grey layers of smoke forming clouds in the cold Nevada air and floating around us as to disturb our view. I saw Horatio's lean figure in the far distance with another couple of SWAT guys and sighed in relief as I allowed myself to lean back in the dark green grass. I coughed before rolling over to my other side to check up on my fellow colleagues and then sank back, concluding the two of them were basically fine and didn't have any wounds or something of that kind, except for Tarrah, who had a little gash on her right cheek.

"I'm getting pretty sick of all these explosions!" I breathed, as I actually wondered how all of this could have been set up in just– "No seriously!" Tarrah spat.

Biggest part of the building, however, was still standing upright. Maybe this actually showed that the brothers in law yet hadn't had enough time to put up more than just a little explosion?

"He was still happily kicking right before the explosion…" I whispered, leaning on weak forearms and grunting as I slowly started to get nervous at this thought. He didn't kick anymore.

With a trembling hand, I cautiously shoved up the red maternity top and started to massage my abdomen as a crazy idiot, rubbing harder and harder. "Come on… Kick for me." I angrily pushed against my pregnant belly, but nothing seemed to happen inside.

Heather came to sit upright next to me. "What's wrong?" she wondered, noticing me rubbing my expanded pregnant belly.

I didn't answer her, but just kept on rubbing, trying to wake up my still unborn child as tears threatened to make their way down my already grimy and flushed cheeks. Right at this particular moment, I realized just how stupid and impulsive I had been to just follow my too strong CSI instinct without thinking about it. "Kick for me…" I begged.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

My greenish eyes stayed glued on the little screen, showing our little baby boy's heart rate, which to my biggest relief had kept on beating strongly during all of this. The whole group had gathered up in my temporary hospital room. Everyone had made it out of the little explosion just in time, with just a few scratches and nothing more.

Raven, being our main source of information and witness, would be interrogated later the same day and at the moment, the Las Vegas forensic team was already present at the crime scene to find and collect evidence, which would be brought over to Florida as soon as possible to help us to try and reconstruct the last happenings in the house, from the brothers in laws' escape to right before the explosion.

I really wanted to be present with Raven's interrogation and was currently waiting impatiently until I could leave. I simply hated hospitals in any circumstances.

I was physically totally fine and that little feller inside my expanded womb was too, although he still seemed to refuse to move in there. His little heart was still pounding strongly, but maybe I would have been yet a little more reassured if he actually started moving inside me again.

Koen would be able to make him do so, I knew. Maybe I should call him and… He would want to know about the explosion and me ending up in the hospital because of it, but I didn't want to upset him.

* * *

Something had come in between, which was not really shocking considering we actually were at the hospital, where something came in between all the time. The doctor wouldn't be able to release me until later in the afternoon. This sucked.

In the meantime, everyone had left to go and help at the crime scene or in another way, like to try and figure out Antonio and Adam's next steps with the help of their respective backgrounds.

Raven's interrogation would be delayed until that afternoon, until I got released from the hospital. Meghan would come and get me and bring me to the police station. We had made the agreement that as soon as I got released, I would call her on her cell phone.

Now there was just the baby and I. This gave me the opportunity to call Koen, now I had finally gotten some kind of privacy. Not that my fellow colleagues couldn't hear what I had to say to him. I just… It cost me only a minute to carefully roll on my right side to grasp my white LadyPhone from the nightstand and push the right button to connect with the one being my speed dial.

I sighed. "Hi Koen."

"Sweetheart, how are you doing over there? I was just thinking about you when my cell phone started ringing. Not that I haven't been thinking about you all the time. I miss you."

"I'm at the Las Vegas hospital," I admitted, denying all of his sweet words with just these words. Not that I didn't want to hear them. "We got involved in another explosion." It suddenly became very quiet in the other end.

"Are… Are you all right there? I mean, as in both of you?"

"Yeah, we're fine," I tried to reassure him as best as I could, while stroking my lower abdomen with a flat hand.

"Then why do you sound so worried?"

"I haven't felt our little feller kick since the explosion this morning…" I admitted.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Lis. I want you to come home. How am I supposed to just stay left behind while my wife and still unborn child are far away and in harm's way? I'll come and get you if that's what it takes to make sure you're–" "Koen. Please… Don't lecture me. I'm old enough to do what's right."

Deep sighing. "Lis–" "Right for both of us," I added upon his unspoken protest, knowing exactly what he would be saying next, as I looked down at my bare pregnant belly.

Deep sighing. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"Koen… It's okay."

Silence. "I just don't want any of you to get hurt."

"We won't. I would never put our baby boy's un-started life at stake…"

"I'm sorry, I just… Do you want to put me on speaker?"

I frowned. "Why?" I questioned, not having the faintest idea what his ideas were. "So I could try and get our lazy baby boy moving inside you."

I couldn't help but smile broadly to myself and rolled my light green eyes before removing the cell phone from my ear, hitting a consciously chosen button and placing the cell on my naked protruding abdomen.

"Hi, little feller," Koen spoke, making me chuckle out loud, belly going up and down while doing so. "This is your daddy speaking. How are you doing in there, in Mommy's snug womb?" I smiled and let out a feminine little laugh. "Ahh, she's laughing. And she really loves to laugh. You might effectively ask her sometime in the future I'm sure she would feel even better if you weren't so lazy and gave her a little kick, though. And daddy would too. Well, I bet you're enjoying yourself in there, aren't you?"

And as in a happy ending dream, our unborn son answered him with a good and neatly placed push. My other hand came to rest on my lower abdomen, just on the right spot a few inches under my popping out navel, to feel him kick against my hand.

"Koen… He moved!"

I consequently heard my old husband chuckle in the other end. "Good boy. I so wish I could feel him doing just that."

"Yeah… Me too. I bet he'll kick for you again when we're home, though."

"He better."

"Hey Lis, I'm sorry, but I really got to go in a minute, or I'm late. Promise me to call me again tonight?"

"I promise."

"Good. Bye, sweetheart. Love you."

I chuckled. "Love you more," I replied, before hanging up on my husband. "Love you more," I repeated within myself while looking up to see Doctor Andrews. "Good," I stated upon seeing her in my hospital room, while pushing myself upright in bed with one hand. "Now… Can I finally go and get out of here?"

Yeah, I could sure be impatient if I wanted to... And if I didn't want to as well.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Barely a couple of hours later, I was sitting behind a large, dark table in the no longer empty interrogation room at the police station of LVPD, right next to Grissom being seated on my immediate left and opposite Raven Sampedro. I had been released from the hospital only a couple of hours earlier on the condition of taking it more slowly for the rest of my pregnancy to fulfill its forty weeks without any (further) complications. What kind of effect do you think it had on me, the all time workaholic, though? Did it even? I actually thought it to be rather funny. My parents had both been workaholics, each in a slightly other way. I, being their only daughter, had always promised myself not to become like that. Like them. It, however, soon turned out to be much easier than I initially thought or expected. Working. Running a gentle hand over my giant abdomen, I just kind of hoped that I would be able to change for my still unborn son and his soon to be brothers or sisters. I wanted to be there for them all the time, not just when it suited me. Like it actually should be.

Koen and I had talked about it elaborately enough already. He completely understood my fears, having had the pleasure of meeting my great pair of parents himself a couple of times. He had actually kind of replaced my dad when the two of us got together five years back. He surely understood how I wanted to be different from my alcoholic, and therefore sometimes aggressive, and mostly too strict dad and too obliging mom. And how unbelievably afraid I was to become just like that. Like them. To fail. Because, no matter what, I still really believed that, although neither of my parents had been perfect nor even near it, both of them had tried very hard to be it.

I cautiously shifted in my seat and felt a consequent wave of pain rippling through my huge abdomen. I winced internally. Doctor Andrews had told me to get back to the hospital when feeling any kind of pain again. However, I kept silent, as I slowly slid off the chair and stood up from it, my six-feet-tall figure most definitely coming over rather imposing, and maybe just a little intimidating as well, for anyone sitting down and barely reaching my swollen breasts in particular. I deftly crossed my arms in front of me, supporting the two aching bulges, and held my stare fixed on Raven as I slowly moved over and came to stand still right in front of him. He averted his criminal gaze from my pregnant belly.

So far, the interrogation had been an unsuccessful one. I had just sat there in silence and let Grissom do the little of talking until now, me just listening to the non-existing conversation, rather monologue, going on between the two men.

"You just caused my baby's godmother to be blown up. You and your bombs," I stated.

He didn't answer.

"Was it really worth it?" I asked, sounding menacingly. "I actually still wonder what specifically contributed for you to go over the line like that. I just don't understand it, how you–" I stopped talking, and sighed. My words hadn't sounded particularly stern until now, but this tactic surely didn't seem to work, so I had to try and take it another way. "Where did Antonio and Adam run off to right before the explosion?" I questioned. "Answer me."

"I don't have anything to say to you!" Raven yelled and jumped upright in one swift movement, the chair on which he had been sitting only mere seconds before clattering backwards and on the tiled dark grayish blue floor.

"Don't you even dare and touch me with these," I breathed, threatening, pointing at his well handcuffed hands, "or I'll break them and make it your very last time." He violently fought against his restraints, the cold chains keeping him from raising one of his hands and slapping me across a cheek. The grayish steel handcuffs were just meant to make anything of that impossible, so he swiftly brought up both of his hands and tried to hit me. I, however, was unfortunately for him just a little faster and grabbed the chain with one hand, then forced it around to make him yelp like a puppy. "You might _not_ want to get in a fight with me. And I might be twice as dangerous!" I snapped, referring to my still unborn child, letting go of the chain, as the handcuffed felon sank down on the cold floor whimpering and looking at his red swollen hands in tears.

"Where did the two of them run off to?" I asked for a second time, seeing Grissom sit back down in his chair on the opposite, as he had stood up from it right when it went out of hand to him on my side of the dark brown table. I briefly glanced up to see Horatio still standing calmly on the other side of the glass panel. He actually knew that I could handle it well enough on my own as well.

No answer. "Why do you still keep on defending them? Both of them let you suffer there, left you to be blown up!" No answer. "Alright, we're not getting any further this way," I concluded, and left him to crumple on the floor and for Grissom to deal with as I walked out of the interrogation room breathing furiously...


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

However, Horatio's stare caught me in my tracks, although he didn't say a word. I sighed without looking at him and fell against the wall, then slowly slid down until I sat on the cold police station floor. Horatio surely tried to get a hold of me and keep me from doing so and going down, but my weak pregnant figure wasn't too easy to handle. Even H. wasn't capable of holding me up right and had to loosen his grip on me and let me pull myself up in a near fetal position on the floor. He sank down on one knee and looked at me with worried blue eyes, as he asked me ever so softly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded, sounding not all too convincing and trying my best to add a little smile. "It's just getting a little heavy on me," I stated, rubbing a particular spot on the right of my navel, feeling my baby boy's good pushes inside my immensely expanded womb.

"You already ate something today?" Horatio asked me. "I vaguely remember the hospital food being rather disgusting, except for the little puddings then..." I smiled. "And this pregnant lady was in such a hurry to get out of there and drag that felon in the interrogation room with her and Grissom I would be very surprised if she actually ate something at all..." he added, looking at me with meaningful blue eyes. I playfully rolled my greenish ones to him in reply, without answering in words.

"Come on, I'll take you out to a fancy restaurant in town that I remember from last time we were here in Las Vegas."

"Horatio."

"Do you want me to tell Koen?" he smiled. I simply sighed and smiled back at him, hands reaching out for him to take them and pull me upright without all too much effort, before letting him lead me out to the car put to our disposal. "Maybe you'll have more impact on him next time."

Out of the corner of my bluish green eyes, I saw Grissom through the glass panel of the interrogation room, pulling his papers and files together, before standing up and asking the police officer to take Raven away.

* * *

"I'm planning to interrogate Raven again tomorrow."

"Tomorrow morning?" Horatio asked, looking up at me with interesting eyes. I nodded, seeing him consequently mirror the gesture. "I'm sure you already realize that you could never predict what the night brings. Sometimes it brings them bright thoughts in jail." I nodded again, right as my cell phone started vibrating violently, nearly screaming out to be picked up. I neatly put my glass of water down and reached out for my mobile phone lying on the table, as I had already expected Koen to call me.

I briefly looked at the caller ID indicating my sweet husband's number before I picked up. "Hi, sweetheart..."

"Hey. How are the two of you doing there in Nevada?"

I smiled, surely having expected this first question. "We're fine. We got out of the hospital this afternoon, and now your little boy's happily kicking inside me." I saw Horatio flashing me one of his rare smiles over the table, as my cell indicated another phone call coming through. "Oh I'm sorry, but I'm having another call coming in from the crime lab back in Miami, and it can be important. I'll call you back from the hotel room tonight, okay?"

"That's alright," Koen answered. "Love you."

"Love you more," I chuckled, then hit a specific button on the phone to accept the other phone call.

"Hi, Lis," Becki's voice sounded. "I have got some results for you from the explosion of this morning... We'll be working all night through here to process the rest, but we already came up with two matching DNA profiles from as many different sexual fluids on the sheets."

I closed my greenish eyes for a brief second, rubbing my pale forehead with my other hand as I tried to think of what sheets Becki was talking about here, brain cracking... "Yeah?" I questioned, eventually.

"One male, and one female DNA profile came up from it. Raven Sampedro's, and... Monica Arandia's."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Our plans had lightly changed from that moment. The interrogation couldn't wait until next morning anymore, not with what the team back in Miami had found out. Horatio was sitting behind the wheel as we drove back to Las Vegas' police station. He had argued, of course. Telling me that a few more hours wouldn't make the difference and it wasn't good for us to jump in on even more stressful situations.

Okay, I was… pregnant and nearing the end, but I hated that every single person in my environment seemed to use the baby as some kind of excuse, to keep me in hand. I'd be fine, and he would as well.

I pressed 'send' to inform my husband on the latest updates, saying that it could probably be quite late when I called him. Horatio easily swung the vehicle in a parking spot and turned off the engine, pulling up the hand brake before undoing his seat belt and getting out.

We walked up to the police station together.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, I sat in the same chair as I had sat before, Horatio right next to me this time. Through the glass panels of the interrogation room, I saw a small girl approaching with a couple of papers in hand. She knocked politely before entering, handing me the pages and nodding to Horatio before leaving again.

I threw the first page in front of Raven. "I'm glad," I stated. "I'm glad not all guys are just the same." Raven didn't even care to look at the picture before him, but kept his gaze averted and on the ceiling. "Imagine if all guys were exactly like you!" He slowly turned his gaze from the ceiling to me. No answer, though; only the rage in his blood shot gray eyes. He looked insane. And maybe he was.

I swallowed. "Thank goodness there are still decent guys in the world, and I'm happily married to one of them. He'd never do something like that," I spoke, and nodded towards the zoomed in picture of the light blue sheets, with quite visible sperm stains.

Raven looked at it for the first time, but still said nothing. I only had one more trump left, and I prayed it would work, that it would mentally break him so much he blurted out all of it. I threw the next picture towards him. It landed on top of the other without audible sound. This picture showed Monica Arandia. She sure was a very beautiful girl, and taking a look at her brother and husband's profile pictures, I couldn't help but wonder how she could ever be connected to one of them. Sure, we had seen nearly everything on the job already, yet… A twenty-one-year-old didn't belong there.

Sure, there were more than enough sixteen-year-old girls, for example, who already weren't innocent anymore in any way, but her sex and age in combination with the man right in front of us, made me think about the possibility of rape.

I swallowed. You really needed a very hard side on the job of CSI, which I fortunately had, but I had never particularly liked to play it dirty. In this situation, however, I had to. "Are you doing it for her?" I asked. "Staying silent? Was she that good to screw, then?"

I immediately knew I had gone way over the line, and a glance of Horatio confirmed that. Yet, Raven didn't become angry like last time. To both of ours utter surprise, the old Chemistry teacher just started sobbing freely.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Both Horatio and I were practically blown back by Raven Sampedro's tears. My tactic seemed to have worked, because he suddenly began talking so fast it became hard to make out his words. "She didn't want to go along with them; she said she wanted to stay with me. We– I already wasn't planning on going with them, so–" "Where to?" I asked, quietly, trying to grasp it all, thinking past the unnecessary information. I felt more than enough relieved he had finally started to talk, though, so I tried to handle it gently.

"Home," the answer sounded clearly in my ears. Horatio and I shared a brief glance. 'Home' should be Argentina for them.

"When?" Horatio asked urgently.

"Three," Raven answered without thinking much, the thought of loosing 'the love of his life' and her forever out of his existence breaking his emotional strength completely.

"What–?" I started, turning towards Horatio. "2:20, already," he declared. He swiftly turned back to Raven. "Where?" he questioned. Raven looked up and just started rambling completely. "I wasn't supposed to survive that explosion, I wasn't supposed to talk to anyone, and–" "Did you hear where?" I questioned again, hands trembling with impatience.

"The old little hangar at 18th and Springfield."

"I'll drive," Horatio announced.

* * *

It felt not even a second later when Horatio raced us through the dark, yet enlightened streets of Las Vegas. We had no time to lose. "Call Heather," he ordered, "Explain where we're going and ask her to bring Tarrah and Meghan and to meet us there."

I nodded, taking my LadyPhone from my maternity pants, but as soon as I had it, and saw the empty screen, I knew the battery had run out. Horatio glanced aside for a second and threw me his phone. "We're not letting them get away with killing off our team," he whispered between gritted teeth.

I had found Heather's number in the contact list in no time. "Oh come on… Pick up," I begged, trees and houses passing by through the car window. Heather only picked up after the eighth ring. "Yeah?" she let out tiredly through a yawn.

"Heather!" I yelled into Horatio's phone. "Antonio and Adam will be leaving the country in thirty minutes," I briefly glanced at the dial of my watch to conclude we actually only still had twenty-seven. "As soon as these felons are out of the US, we don't have any jurisdiction about them anymore, and we're both aware that we'll never still catch them as soon as that happens!"

I concluded, before clasping Horatio's phone closed. I looked at the hands of my watch indicating only twenty-three minutes left, then at Horatio, who, to my surprise, smiled. "I already knew you'd be a great asset to our team the day Calleigh hired you," he spoke. "I knew you'd find a way to make him buck. Good job."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"We're too late," I sighed in complete despair, as the helicopter took off right before our eyes.

"No, we're not," Horatio urged. "Take it down. You've got the best shot."

The vehicle came to a screeching halt, and I knew what to do. In only a couple of seconds, I had my seat belt undone and climbed out of the car. The LadySmith shone in the moonlight as I ran and aimed for the horizontal rotors of the metal bird. I shot twice, and missed. There was only one more bullet left and if I fucked up this shot as well, these felons would get away with it. I again pulled the trigger of my gun, and missed for the third time. The LadySmith still shook in my hands as I saw the helicopter rise higher and higher.

"Lis!" the redhead's voice roared over the engine, immediately catching my attention and throwing his own Glock in my direction. I caught it and just stood there for a second, until he yelled at me again. "The turbine!"

Of course. This time, the gun didn't shake in my hand as I aimed for the belly of the aircraft and shot a leaden bullet into it. Nothing happened, until I shot another one right next to the previous and the helicopter started swaying in the air, before losing height and crashing down with a very loud bang, about sixty feet further.

Horatio pushed us down to the tarmac and as soon as he considered it safe to get up again, he gave me his jacket to stop from shivering. I didn't think I was shivering from cold, but stopped. I held on to the Glock hardly and Horatio practically had to pray it from my hands. "Do you think anyone survived this?" I asked wearily, as I heard the wail of an ambulance in the distance. I didn't remember Horatio calling for it.

He didn't get the chance to answer me, because right at that moment, another vehicle stopped on the tarmac, spitting out three of my colleagues, who ran towards me and started asking too many questions at the same time.

I smiled, more to myself than anyone else, rubbed my big, round belly lovingly and lay back on the hard underground. "Lis? Are you okay?" I heard a worried woman's voice shriek. I couldn't even make out who out of the three it was. I let out a sigh and sank in a well deserved state of rest.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The five of us walked inside to the baggage handling belts to get the luggage. We hadn't stood waiting for the luggage to arrive for long, when a couple of familiar bags were passed by already. Tarrah took mine from the conveyer belt for me and helped Meghan to get hers as well, before taking her own. From the corners of my eyes, I saw Horatio and Heather getting theirs a couple of feet further.

As soon as all of us had their luggage, we all took the lift to a higher floor, where Koen stood waiting for us with a smile on his lips.

I smiled broadly, and waddled over to my husband self-confidently, rolling the little suitcase along with me. I sure was very happy to see him again after four days and a half. "I'm so glad you're home," he said, taking me into his strong arms as soon as I had come close enough for him to do that.

"Me, too," I whispered, putting the bag down next to me and wrapping my own arms around him as well, eyes moist with all that had happened in the last couple of days. It had only been yesterday that Horatio had urged me to take the helicopter down. No occupants had survived the crash from two hundred feet. Horatio and I had been brought to hospital, too, for a check-up, but as soon as turned out that everything was completely fine with all three of us, we had been released and had planned our flight back home.

I would have never thought about me even thinking this, but I really hoped to spend the last days of my pregnancy in all calm. I think the baby and I had had enough action for a lifetime in the last week only.

My husband let go of me as we turned around for the short walk to the parking lot, arms wrapped around each other's waist lovingly, Horatio and Heather, and Tarrah and Meghan following in our wake. As we walked to the parking lot, Koen bent over to whisper something in my ear, apparently not for the others to hear. "You seem to have put on a little more weight again," he teased.

"Mmm," I answered, poking him hardly in the side before kissing his jaw line, "from your child."

* * *

Anette slightly rolled her hazel colored eyes, appearing into the doorway to watch me rummaging through the pile of papers, looking for the information I had sent and asked to print out for me. "I managed just fine while you were out there in Nevada," she said, without saying as much as a hi.

I looked up from the pile and sat down in the comfortable black leather chair behind the desk that would stay mine for the time being. Horatio and I had agreed to have him back as a Lieutenant, temporarily, until I was back out of maternity leave and took the job of Lieutenant permanently. I sighed at the thought of finding at least two replacements, for in Trace and DNA. "Yeah. So well I can't find anything anymore in my office," I said. "You're an unbelievable slob, Anette." She could be the biggest grub out of all CSIs present, but was probably the most hard-working of them all as well.

"I'm sorry about that."

In somewhat more comfortable circumstances, we would have laughed about each other's comments, but not right at this moment.

"How–" she started, stopping as soon as she saw me shaking my head and stuck by the subject. I never wanted to talk about Nevada again. Never.

"I seriously can't find a thing here anymore!" I let out.

"I at least haven't let blow up the crime lab," she stated.

"True," I answered, swallowing at the thought of explosions. I had had enough of them as well. I knew, that for a couple of months, basically everything would remind me of Nevada and loosing part of our team, nearly everyone of the one I had joined at first. I had often been at the point of crying, even this morning when I arrived back in Miami, but I had never really done it. Weeping. Crying, whatever you could call it. Breaking down, maybe. I think that the child inside my womb kept me up right for the time being.

"What are you looking for?" Anette asked, helpfully.

"The documents I recently sent you from Las Vegas and asked to print out, and the results of our team on the evidence of the crime scenes. There should be three of them: the blown up Las Vegas crime lab and Bellucio residence and the old little hangar."

Anette stepped closer and took the map with papers lying above the pile, handing it to me with concern readable in her eyes. "Right in front of you," she said. "Are you okay?"

I clasped a hand over my forehead at my own stupidity before taking it from her. "Thank you," I said, ignoring her question strategically.

She nodded, "I put all results and information you requested together."

"Very good," I said, trying to add a little smile.

"Lis?" Anette asked, the change in her tone making me look up at her. She always looked like this every time she stood on the point of telling or asking something important. "Did you really take that helicopter down?"

I frowned. "Yes."

Right then, Koen appeared in the doorway to my office. I'd say, saved by the husband. Meghan and Tarrah had been ordered home and given time off until the end of the week to process Nevada and finally grieve. There hadn't been time for that until now. It had all gone too fast. Horatio and Heather had gone to the police station to get the paper work over with as soon as possible. I had begged my husband to drop me off at the crime lab for me to do the same. The sooner everything concerning Nevada was all dealt and over with, the better. He had agreed, on the one condition he would come pick me up at noon himself, so we could drive home together and catch up.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I sat cross-legged on the carpet in the living room, an old shoe box between my legs. Every now and then, I picked up a picture out of it and looked at it in tears, before laying it next to me on the growing pile and taking another one.

I just was too much dissociated I didn't even hear the sound of Koen's footsteps. I could have already guessed he'd wake up sooner or later and notice the empty spot beside him, though. His hand came down gently on my shoulder. "Lis. Don't do this," he whispered, squeezing lightly.

I had no notion of time, but guessed it could have been around two in the morning when I had snuck out of his arms. Poor man had held me into his arms all night, gently stroking my spine, softly singing me to sleep as if I were a child.

"This one's been taken last year with Christmas," I whispered, holding up the picture for Koen to see it as well. He sat down next to me and took the picture out of my hands, carefully dropping it into the shoe box again and doing the same with the pile next to me before closing the lid and pushing it a few inches aside.

He held me close and let me sob against his shoulder. It was the first time I really cried over it all. I had been the only one to remain with dry eyes that morning at the funeral. I hadn't been able to show any kind of emotion when the remains of respectively Eric, Ryan, Natalia, Maxine and Calleigh sank down in the ground. The only thing I could think of right then was that five CSIs had died and only as many returned alive.

The last thing I had done before their coffins were covered with earth, was throwing Calleigh's sparkling hair pin upon it. It had kept on sparkling after her death.

"Don't do this," Koen repeated, rocking me as a child against his chest. "I don't think this is the right time for you or the baby."

* * *

After more than an hour, all of my tears were shed. Koen had held me the whole time. We both knew that this would be the only time I cried over what had happened. The first and the last time.

He stood up carefully and pulled me upright with him, before sitting down on the couch. "Come here," he whispered, assuring me it was okay.

"I hope you're aware that I weigh about a ton now," I sniffled, still recovering from the crying.

"I think that won't be a problem," he reassured.

He didn't let go of my hands as he helped me sit straddling on his lap. I pulled both of my arms loosely around his neck and hid my nose in his shoulder, his warm hands slipping under my T-shirt to comfort my aching lower back. He knew I was getting more and more difficulties carrying our child.

"Koen?" I asked, my voice not louder than a whisper, turning my dark blond head to look at him with my emerald green eyes. He did just the same and frowned his brow when no continuance came.

"I… Why did you always keep on believing in me?" I wondered aloud.

"Because I love you."

"Yeah, but… before that." He sighed. "You haven't always loved me in this kind of way," I reminded him. "Before that, did you always keep on believing in me because you felt sorry for me?"

He shook his head at me. "No, because everyone else had given up on you."

"Isn't that the same?" I hesitated.

"No," he answered, gently taking my hand and intertwining our fingers. "It isn't. I wanted to show you that–" "Don't finish that," I interrupted, laying two fingers upon his lips.

"I…" I shook my head to make him stop as he softly kissed my fingers. I closed my greenish colored eyes as his hands drew circles on my lower back like no one else could. What he could do to me should be considered as illegal. I bit down on my lower lip and let my cheek rest on his shoulder again.

"I never deserved to be with you," I whispered after a couple of silent instants. He ceased all of his movements and pulled back a little.

"What made you say that?"

"Because… it is true."

He held me close against him and started stroking me again. "It isn't," he said. "If you hadn't been there after the accident, I… Without you, I wouldn't be sitting here anymore. I guess I would have given up otherwise."

"So would I," I whispered back. "Conclusion: we're meant to be together."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Oh shit…" I breathlessly whispered, just not loud enough for my husband to hear me. "Oh… I can't do this…"

'You can,' a very soft and familiar southern voice soothed, and it felt like coming from inside me. I immediately opened my eyes to convince myself I wasn't dreaming. "Calleigh," I gasped, shaking my dark blond head to convince myself I wasn't going crazy.

I clearly saw the blond CSI's small, petite figure sitting on the sill, in the open window. She smiled. 'You're not going crazy,' she assured me in the same calm tone. 'I just came to remind you to be strong and trust him,' she continued, nodding towards Koen, curled up right beside me. And then, before I even had the chance to say or ask anything more, she was gone as suddenly as she had popped up.

I had hoped so much for her to keep fighting, and she had just as hard as she possibly could, but it hadn't been enough. By the time I had arrived in Nevada myself, with Tarrah, Meghan and Heather, her body had given up trying to stay alive. It had been a miracle for her to survive the explosion, and our Calleigh simply hadn't been able to fight anymore. She had had too much irretrievable internal bleeding.

* * *

"Koen…" I said just a bit louder as another cramp came to my lower abdomen and I couldn't fight it any longer. I poked him in the ribs and he shot awake immediately. "What?" he let out wearily.

"I think we… better get to the hospital…" I stated, trying to push the sheets off with my feet.

"What? But… You're still early… You– Are you having contractions?"

"Feels… like it," I softly let out with a moan.

A little more than two hours later, Koen and I arrived home again, without baby. False alarm: the good old Braxton-Hicks.

It wouldn't take long anymore before our son would come into this world, though. I had dilated a good three centimeters already, but by the time we had arrived at the hospital, the first contractions had eased. I had gotten the choice to stay there for an unknown time period, or get back home with my husband to await the heavy birth contractions. I had chosen for the last option and gone home with Koen.

His first spouse had died along with their unborn daughter and boy toddlers in a car accident on the way to the hospital six years before. Their car had landed on its side and only Koen had survived. I never asked, but knew it must be hard for him to make the same trip to the hospital like six years back, remembering he had lost his wife and children then. And now I would have him make it twice. I felt determined to wait until the last second this time and not have him do it three times.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I cried, more silently than our daughter, who was lying right beside me in the hospital bed. Koen sat on the edge of the bed eying us and couldn't seem to stop smiling. "Our Sophie," he whispered.

"Our Sophie," I repeated and kissed my husband's lips right under the nose of the nurse applying me with a mild pain killer. Our daughter had ripped me apart thoroughly, but I didn't exactly mind, not when I looked down at the perfect little girl. It had been a little shock to hear the obstetrician say we had a girl, since we had both been convinced we were having a boy. We had been fighting over a good boy's name so much to get a girl in the end, about whose name we both agreed immediately. Well, I just hoped our Sophie would like the color blue then…

I easily let my dark blond head rest against Koen's chest. "Tired?" he asked, and to my own surprise, I felt myself nodding to him and carefully handed him our new born baby girl for him to put her in her crib beside the bed. She had been fed and burped no longer than half an hour before, so I hoped she would be asleep for at least a couple of hours straight.

I sighed happily against my husband as he settled next to me again and closed my emerald green eyes peacefully. The peace got disturbed by a noise in the corridor, though: a mixture of very familiar voices was audible. Anette burst into the room first, her sight unclear by the pile of presents she carried and dumped on the spare hospital bed. Emma, Calleigh, Andreiinna, Tarrah, Janeau, Horatio and Heather were to follow after her. The room had gotten just a little crowded in barely a minute time.

I looked on as Heather put down a giant box next to Anette's presents. "The contains are from... all of us," she explained, at my too confused expression. I didn't have to look up to be aware all women had gathered around Sophie's crib to see the littlest CSI-to-be. "Now... Where's my goddaughter?" Anette exclaimed, lifting the newborn out of her crib. 'Don't crush her!' I wanted to put in between, but Koen and I briefly shared a glance and I kept quiet.

"Pain killers?" Janeau wondered, nodding towards the needle running into my arm.

I nodded. "Yeah. I lost lots of blood during and after the birth. Our little Sophie caused some internal bleeding trying to get out and tore me apart thoroughly as well. I seriously–" "Shut up, you're scaring me..." Anette let out, suddenly. She blushed at the glances of everyone present. "I'm going to have a baby, too... I'm about eight weeks pregnant."

"And when did that happen?" Emma wondered, the first one to speak after the declaration, voicing what everyone else present thought. I honestly hadn't noticed anything on her, and all I had known was that she and her girlfriend were planning to have a child in the near future as well, but not exactly that fast...

"Odyssea and I both got a little jealous of you guys and soon wanted one ourselves..." Anette blushed, not looking at any of us. "It became sooner than planned for us as well; never thought it would work from the first time."


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I smiled. "Take me home," I said, very happy that I would finally be able to sleep in my own bed again that night. Koen smiled, taking my warm hand over the hand brake while leaving the parking lot of the hospital behind us. I had been in hospital for barely three days. The medication had worked pretty fast and my obstetrician had told me that I could heal further at home as well; that I didn't necessarily have to stay hospitalized. So here I was on my way home.

The vehicle stopped at a red light, and I glanced over my shoulder at our baby girl sleeping in the back seat. She wouldn't be so easy to handle all the time, we knew, but we were so happy. "I don't think we're going to make six weeks of no sex after the delivery," I whispered, looking up at my husband. He didn't say anything.

"We have to be careful..." Koen let out, not denying my words at all. I leaned in to kiss him briefly.

"I'm in the mood," I whispered into his ear as I retracted in the passenger seat.

"Stop teasing me, sweetheart..."

"And what if I like teasing you, huh? I'm aware that you like it..."

"Lis," he started in his firm tone. "You should keep in mind that we can't..."

"We can," I confidently said. "Now let's see how long you're going to be able to keep your hands off me when we're home." He knew he couldn't for even a second.

Even after all these years, the two of us were still nuts about each other. Koen still gave me butterflies every single time I looked at him. Nothing had changed between us, except for the unbreakable bond we shared, which had become even stronger over the years.

* * *

"I really feel like having French fries," I announced as soon as the front door fell in the locker behind us. Koen carried our daughter's cradle. "With pickles." The too strange eating combinations hadn't left me.

"You're crazy," Koen stated, getting me to chuckle out loud as he made his way to the nursery to put our little Sophie to sleep. I stood in the doorway watching him while he did that, so carefully.

"You love Crazy, until Crazy loves you... And since I'm Crazy..." I teased, patting his tight ass as soon as he had closed the door. I pushed him against it playfully and kissed his jaw line, then ran towards our bedroom. "Catch me!" I exclaimed, noticing him rolling his chocolate brown eyes to Heaven before coming after me, determined to effectively catch me...


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Shh…" I soothed, ever so gently rocking our baby girl, as Koen joined us on the porch swing. I smiled as he cautiously hovered over me to watch little Sophie asleep in my arms. I leaned against him as he settled back and lovingly wrapped his strong and safe arms around her and me. I sighed, looking down at our daughter, the undefined cutest, prettiest and most succeeded perfect mix from the two of us.

I would want a million of these.

Koen bent down gently to plant a soft little kiss on her forehead, making her let out some grunts in her completely undisturbed sleep. I laughed as Koen picked her up gently and carried her inside, most likely to her cradle in our bedroom.

Only a couple of minutes later, he returned on the porch with the baby monitor in hand. He carefully set it down on the table and joined me, pushing me underneath him almost immediately and starting to kiss me while both of his hands were already going up the side my thighs, pushing up my nightgown at the same time, uncovering the black thong I was wearing and the angry purple striae I had left from carrying our Sophie. I had put on a lot of weight during the pregnancy. It had been simply inevitable, because the oil my husband had rubbed almost every night didn't seem to have worked.

I helped him to get rid of his boxers and shifted on the porch swing to make it easier for him and grant him better access to thrust forward inside me.

"I'm fine," I assured him at his still unspoken question, seeing it float within his chocolate brown eyes, within clouds of love and passion, from the moment he had entered me completely. He leaned up high on his forearms and started moving back and forth gently. I bit down on my lower lip in ecstasy, as Koen replied on that by going a little harder, driving his steel hard manhood home into me.

My nails mercilessly dug into his shoulders as I spread further for him and met all of his thrusts with my pelvic bone. I sure let out a few cries of pain between the moans, since it had been a while ever since Koen and I had been together in that kind of way; since the two of us had had sex. He stopped moving for a brief moment to make sure I was fine. "Sweet, there's been a baby through the same opening. I think I'll manage you just fine," I smiled.

This made him go harder again, hurting me a little as I clamped both legs around him and took him in deeper. I had missed doing this so much. "K-Koen!" I panted, right before he winced and lowered himself upon me, stroking me. I carelessly rooted through his dark brown hair as he tried to catch his breath, panting heavily in the crook of my neck.

A tear of unknown origin ran down my red flushed cheek as he gradually regained from the climb to culmination. As soon as he had, he started pushing up the nightgown further with his warm hands, enough to reach my pink nipples, standing up proudly for my husband. He grasped the nearest one between his lips and went down kissing, disposing me of the nightgown at the same time.

Soon enough, both of us would be lying there basking in afterglow.

* * *

I breathed out heavily as the cold air swirled around me and his lips wandered down to the inside of my thigh, sending a different feeling through me. I trembled lightly underneath him as two fingers were inserted into me and gave another kind of fulfillment. Soon enough, his lips had reached that far down as well. Koen kissed the most sensitive spot of my physical being gently, sending an avalanche of ticklish feelings across my abdomen before he began to lap at me, encircling the throbbing, outstanding nub with his tongue. I couldn't help but lightly shake at the sensation. Koen had me right where he wanted me: on the waves of climax.

I ran through it all silently, but had my lips slightly parted and panted loudly against his. My husband didn't give me all too much of a chance to come back to myself, though, because as soon as I had stopped shaking just a little, Koen settled me above him and started running his warm hands up and down my spine again, which I couldn't ever resist.

I briefly closed my greenish colored eyes to enjoy, then impaled myself blindly onto his new hardness. How little had it just taken? Easily, I sank down the length of his shaft. As Koen's manhood had found its place, his hands went to my hips and pushed me back and forth, riding him.

I soon picked up the pace myself and started moving independently above my husband. My hands rested on his chest, his all over me. I couldn't really bother and think about which places in particular. I let out a gasp before collapsing.

His right hand slid from my hipbone further down between my folds, teasing and stirring the same little spot as earlier. I bounced along with his pleasuring, sending both of us on another possible wave to climax.

A pained expression on his features would be the last thing I saw, before I let go, and let out a sigh of satisfaction at the same time as I felt something hot being spilled into me. Me tightening around him had most likely brought him over the edge to release with me.

For a couple of instants, the two of us just panted heavily against each other's lips, not having enough air to spend and lean in. That, however, didn't keep my sweetheart from pulling his arms around me and comforting me like only he could. As I started trembling within his grasp, Koen gently covered us both with the old cover. He slowly stroked my side and encouraged me to let the tears flow. "Shh… I'm with you," he soothed, and as ridiculous as could be, it worked.

"Don't leave me…" I practically begged.

"I won't," he promised, and cautiously rolled us both over on our side and held me tightly as I cried into his chest, his warm hands softly brushing little, soothing circles. He didn't ask until I had calmed down completely. "Better?"

I nodded, wriggling and hiding into his shoulder, whispering, "I love you."

"Love you more," he whispered.

And then our daughter's crying broke the silence. We both sighed at the same time, then smiled. I kept on hugging him as Koen brought us to a sitting position. He swiftly picked up the audio baby monitor from the table, stood up and carried me back inside. I must have fallen asleep on the way.


	24. The New Team

**Lieutenant**

Lis H.

* * *

**Trace**

Ellen B.

Elien B.

Adam R.

Jonathan T.

* * *

**DNA**

Maria D.

Joyce S.

Loes V.

* * *

**Firearms**

Calleigh C.

Astrid S.

* * *

**A/V**

Anette R.

Emma T.

* * *

**Cryptography**

Andreiinna F.

Tarrah F.

* * *

**M.E.**

Janeau L.


End file.
